Scientists link obesity to gut bacteria

[The Straight Story]

Scientists link obesity to gut bacteria

Obesity in human beings could be caused by bacterial infection rather than eating too much, exercising too little or genetics, according to a groundbreaking study that could have profound implications for public health systems, the pharmaceutical industry and food manufacturers.

The discovery in China followed an eight-year search by scientists across the world to explain the link between gut bacteria and obesity.

Researchers in Shanghai identified a human bacteria linked with obesity, fed it to mice and compared their weight gain with rodents without the bacteria. The latter did not become obese despite being fed a high-fat diet and being prevented from exercising.
The bacterium – known as enterobacter – encourages the body to make and store fat, and prevents it from being used, by deregulating the body’s metabolism-controlling genes.

“This is a very important phenomenon,” said Professor Zhao Liping, who with a team at Shanghai Jiao Tong University carried out the research. “It is the last missing piece of evidence bacteria causes obesity.”

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/0b7af978-493a-11e2-9225-00144feab49a.html#axzz2FVzN6j7G

[dkf]

1. Which might make this more significant...

http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/51-2012/14520-roundup-harms-beneficial-gut-bacteria-study

NOTE: Below is the abstract of a new study by scientists at Leipzig University which found that Roundup herbicide, based on the chemical glyphosate, negatively impacted the gastrointestinal bacteria of poultry in vitro. The researchers found that highly pathogenic bacteria resisted Roundup, whereas beneficial bacteria were moderately to highly susceptible to it.

The study provides a scientific basis to farmer reports of increased gastrointestinal disease in animals fed GM Roundup Ready soy, which is tolerant to Roundup.

[unblock]

2. imagine curing obesity by simply taking antibiotics.

this makes complete sense to me.

i've seen others have no problem maintaining their weight, then a switch goes off and the the pounds pile on.
i've seen many people eat less and less and still gain weight while others can eat like pigs and not gain weight.

gut bacteria would explain a LOT.



of course, people will still treat the overweight like dirt....

[hedgehog]

3. It may be the other way around - that antibiotics kill beneficial

bacteria and allow the harmful bacteria to proliferate.

[Care Acutely]

4. I suspect treatment would involve a targeted antibiotic followed by probiotics. nt

[NoOneMan]

6. Or a complete floral transplant

[Care Acutely]

20. I would rather have CABGx4 with intractable hiccups and a hacking cough

than a fecal transplant. If I ever need one, I hope I'm unconscious and unaware. I don't want to hear about it when I wake up either. I don't want to see it on my bill. I just don't want to know about it.

[NoOneMan]

21. In case anyone cares...

I'll start sending my shit on eBay in addition to my normal sperm offerings. It is inadvisable to use both products at once for any application.

[KittyWampus]

7. One can change the flora in ones gut without antibiotics. In fact, antibiotics kill the good flora

in the gut.

And changing ones diet.

Simple questions:

Are there some foods that encourage this bacterium growth? Simple sugars? Low fiber?

Are there some foods that discourage this bacterium growth?

[riderinthestorm]

5. Well this thread should be fun to watch....

[reformist2]

8. Ridiculous and hilarious.

[renie408]

10. And your qualifications are...?

Did you even read the entire article?

If you want to call this 'Ridiculous and hilarious', why not back that up and give your reasoning.

[unblock]

11. wow.

[renie408]

9. The thing I found interesting is that the diet that changes gut PH

making it harder for the enterobacteria to survive was whole grains and undigestible carbs along with Chinese medicinal herbs.

This makes me wonder if THAT is why a diet which limits simple carbs works so well. Because it changes the PH of the gut.

[Marr]

12. The study I read (I believe it's the same one), suggested no such thing.

They began with a collection of mice that were genetically resistant to gaining weight even from high-fat diets. They were injected with the enterobacter, and split into two groups. Group A was fed a high fat diet that would cause obesity in any regular mouse, and Group B was fed a regular diet.

Group A became obese-- not morbidly obese, mind you-- just obese, like any normal mouse would. Something about the bacteria seemed to have countered the group's genetic resistance to obesity. Ultimately, however, the obese mice were eating a lot of high fat food. What the group proved was this bacteria may be effective in countering the obesity resistance of specially-bred mice.

All that is to say that no one is going to give you an antibiotic that makes you drop 80lbs. If you're overweight, you can be almost certain that it's a simple case of eating too much, probably the wrong foods, and moving too little.

[KittyWampus]

13. Details of this particular study from another article

His team isolated enterobacter microbes from their human subject’s stool samples and mixed them with food given to special ”germ free” mice. These blank-slate animals are born in sterile environments where bacteria can’t colonize the digestive system, giving scientists control over what they’re studying.

The bacteria turned the mice into textbook obesity cases, complete with weight gain and signs of diabetes, but only when the animals ate a high-fat diet. Animals on a leaner diet didn’t gain weight — likely because there was no excess energy for the bacteria to convert to fat with its toxins.



Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/19/landmark-chinese-study-intestinal-bacteria-control-obesity/#ixzz2FWCPH4xV

[Marr]

14. Sounds like the same study.

[Barack_America]

15. "Animals on a leaner diet didn’t gain weight"

http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/19/landmark-chinese-study-intestinal-bacteria-control-obesity/2/

Enterobacter cloacae is not a new bacteria. What has changed is our eating habits and activity levels.

What is better to combat this bacteria? Diet and exercise or lifetime antibiotic administration? Wikipedia lists the antibiotics cefepime and gentamicin as the go-to antibiotics for this bug. Cefepime is available only as IV and gentamicin, taken long term, has a significant rate of vertigo and deafness.

I don't doubt this bacteria could contribute to obesity, but unless it has learned out how to violate the laws of thermodynamics and create its own energy, diet is still the primary culprit, and remains the easiest and safest risk factor to change.

[FarCenter]

16. An opportunistic pathogen isolated from the gut of an obese human causes obesity in germfree mice

Abstract

Lipopolysaccharide endotoxin is the only known bacterial product which, when subcutaneously
infused into mice in its purified form, can induce obesity and insulin resistance via an inflammationmediated
pathway. Here we show that one endotoxin-producing bacterium isolated from a morbidly
obese human’s gut induced obesity and insulin resistance in germfree mice. The endotoxin producing
Enterobacter decreased in relative abundance from 35% of the volunteer’s gut bacteria to
non-detectable, during which time the volunteer lost 51.4 kg of 174.8 kg initial weight and recovered
from hyperglycemia and hypertension after 23 weeks on a diet of whole grains, traditional Chinese
medicinal foods and prebiotics. A decreased abundance of endotoxin biosynthetic genes in the
gut of the volunteer was correlated with a decreased circulating endotoxin load and alleviated
inflammation. Mono-association of germfree C57BL/6J mice with strain Enterobacter cloacae B29
isolated from the volunteer’s gut induced fully developed obesity and insulin resistance on a highfat
diet but not on normal chow diet, whereas the germfree control mice on a high-fat diet did not
exhibit the same disease phenotypes. The Enterobacter-induced obese mice showed increased
serum endotoxin load and aggravated inflammatory conditions. The obesity-inducing capacity of
this human-derived endotoxin producer in gnotobiotic mice suggests that it may causatively
contribute to the development of obesity in its human host.

http://www.nature.com/ismej/journal/vaop/ncurrent/pdf/ismej2012153a.pdf

The full paper is at the link. Emphasis regarding the weight loss by the human volunteer added.

[musiclawyer]

17. Have a raw Kombucha tea for lunch

Every day for a month. Nothing more. They are filling. And eat no sugar or carbs except whole grains during the other two meals And don't snack.

You will lose a tremendous amount of weight even without exercising

And yes. I figured good bacteria had a lot to go with this even before science was looking into it

[FarCenter]

18. The volunteer also received bitter melon.

This also resulted in a reduction of enterobacter in his stool samples.

Bitter melon has been used for weight loss.

[mainer]

19. I love bitter melon. Too bad it's so hard to find in the grocery stores.

Unless you live in an area with a large Asian population.